Felt boot



(No Model.)

J. VAIL'.

' FELT BOOT.

No. 404,449. Patented June 4, 1889..

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH VAIL, OF GARDEN GROVE, IOWVA.

FELT BOOT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 404,449, dated June 4, 1889.

Application filed September 18, 1888. Serial No. 285,748. (No model.)

T at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 'I, JOSEPH VAIL, a citizen of the United States of America-and a resident of Garden Grove, in the county of Decatur, State of Iowa,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Felt Boots, of

which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification thereof.

My invention relates to improvements in felt boots in which a strap of leather or other suitable material is fixed to the heel of the boot; and the objects of my invention are, first, to prevent the overshoe wearing the back of the heel of the felt boot, and, secondly, to assist in the pulling on or off of the felt boot. I attain these objects in the manner illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section of a felt bootwith overshoe and leather strap in position. Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of that I portion of the felt boot to which the strap is fixed, with the strap shown in position. Fig.

3 is an end elevation of Fig. 2.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In Fig. 1, A represents a felt boot, and fixed to the back of the heel of which is a strap, a, made of leather or any other suitable material. The strap a may be fixed to the heel a of the boot by sewing that part a ofthe strap awhich is turned upward to the heel a of the boot. It may also be fixed by means of rivets placed through the strap and the heel of the boot. Again, a strengthening-piece of any suitable material may be put on the inside of the heel a of the bootA and opposite that part of the strap shown in the drawings as a, to which may be sewed the aforesaid strap. The strap a is further held in position by means of the piece of elastic b, which is firmly sewed to the felt boot A on either side of that part covered by the strap a, and is then passed over the upper end of the strap a, thus securely keeping it in position. This strap is in this way used to prevent the overshoe B wearing theheel a of the boot A. It can also be used as a bootjack to pull the felt boot on or off by releasing the strap a from the elastic band or loop I).

To put the boot on, the strap a must be drawn from under the elastic b, then grasped firmly by the hand. By this means it will be found to materially decrease the ordinary difficulty of putting on the felt boot. When the felt boot is in position, the strap a should be placed again under the elastic b, and the overshoe B can then be put on in the ordinary way. To take it off, the overshoe having been removed and the strap a taken from under the elastic b, the other foot can be placed on the strap a, holding the boot on the ground, while the foot is then easily withdrawn.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent, is

In a felt boot, a strap of leather fixed in any suitable manner to the heel of said boot, and at its upper end held in position by a loop formed by a piece of elastic attached to said boot, facilitating the taking on or off of the aforesaid felt boot.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 22d day of June, 1888.

JOSEPH VAIL.

Witnesses:

SPENCER H. AMos, HENRY YOUNG. 

